Sell-Off Threatens Apple and Microsoft’s Trillion-Dollar Values

(Bloomberg) -- Trillion-dollar valuations for Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. could be at risk as U.S. stocks continue to crater on concerns over the economic fallout of the spreading coronavirus pandemic.

Technology stocks have been among the hardest hit in the market sell-off, with investors fretting over the impact to both demand and supply chains. The rout continued on Thursday after an address from President Donald Trump failed to assuage concerns about the government’s response to the outbreak. Shares of Apple fell as much as 9.1% while Microsoft dropped as much as 7.8% before paring their declines.

With the stocks down more than 20% from their February peaks, investors in Apple and Microsoft have seen their market value fall to about $1.1 trillion for each, down from more than $1.4 trillion just a few weeks ago.

Coronavirus-related weakness has already evicted two names from the thirteen-digit club: Amazon.com Inc. and Google-parent Alphabet Inc. Both rose above the threshold earlier this year but fell back below $1 trillion in late February. Currently, Amazon has a market cap of about $858 billion and Alphabet’s valuation has dropped below $800 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Vlastelica in New York at rvlastelica1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net

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